Zebra Brownies

I will start by apologizing that I am writing this post almost two weeks after the creation of this product.  Lets just call this my belated holiday post.

If you go back to my december 2012 posts (wow 2012!- that was a long time ago.  Still can't believe it is 2014), you will see my entry called "gifty granola" which explains my yearly holiday tradition of giving a jar with some sort of delicious food item to my relatives.  I have done cookies many times, did granola last year and decided that this year I needed to continue to expand my horizons and do some other IAJ recipe.... IAJ obviously is an abbreviation for IAJ (a bet somewhere, in the world, that is a valid abbreviation).  The two requirements for IAJ recipes that I arbitrarily decided :  1) the receiver should not be required to put in more than 3 of their own ingredients into the mix to prevent them getting ripped off... some gift it is if they have to add 10 ingredients! 2) the mix has to look pretty.  That is really all there is to a successful something IAJ .

After browsing a bit online for some inspiration, I came across a recipe called "tuxedo brownies"  which fit all of my VERY strict requirements an IAJ recipe.  So, I decided to go for it. Basically, it entails layering walnuts, white chocolate chips, chocolate chips, brown sugar, flour, cocoa, salt and sugar.  I especially liked this recipe because it has no baking soda or baking powder to add to each one- that is annoying.

 If you haven't picked up on it, they are called "tuxedo brownies" because they have white chocolate chips and chocolate chips (black/white).  I was going to go with this exact same concept, but then I started to get the feeling that these are the types you give out at a wedding...... not christmas.  Maybe one day I will give my wedding guests tuxedo brownies IAJ but christmas was not that day! So, I racked my brain for other black on white things besides a tuxedo.  I came up with cow brownies (Davis resident obviously), Dalmatian brownies, piano brownies, skunk brownies (ew) and zebra brownies.  None of these are particular merry or festive as a christmas gift should be, so I just went with the most exotic- Zebra brownies.  I also found cool scrapbook paper that I could decorate with.  I ended up following the recipe exactly and then dolled up the jars to fit my zebra theme. I also obviously had to make a sample of these chewy, chocolatey and delicious brownies to bring to the party.  I suppose you could always make the brownies without even including the whole jar part if you are just making them on your own, but if you want a wonderful gift to give someone to give them the impression they are a masterful baker, you know what to do :) Happy 2014!!